Okay honestly, I’m sure there are a few of you who wonder how I can afford to buy furniture and decor for my home(s) at my current age– and current unemployment status (help). The truth is, my investments in my home have taken place over time. Since college, I have spent the majority of my disposable income on my apartment(s) because it’s what truly brings me joy (*ahem* Marie Kondo) and is what I’m passionate about. I’m not a huge drinker, I rarely eat out and really don’t buy clothes all that often. Once you accumulate some pieces it becomes easier to slowly grow your belongings because you now have capital to work with.

I have developed a bit of a strategy over the years on how to hustle my way to a styled home. I wanted to share some of my top tricks with you all today. To start…

1. Never buy full-priced

My reasoning for this is that if you always wait for a markdown on an item, you can sell back when you redecorate down the road for the same price you purchased it. This will appear like you are offering a deal to buyers when in reality you are simply recouping your funds. If you ever need to lower the price of an item if it isn’t selling quickly, this strategy helps cut your losses as well.

Every time I want to replace something in my home, I make myself sell the item before purchasing the replacement and I use the money from that sale to purchase the said replacement. Something that has helped me with resale is the fact that I don’t mind putting furniture together. To many, it is a plus that they are able to buy something pre-assembled. Another thing that has helped with resale? The fact that I don’t purchase anything full-priced so I’m always naturally providing a deal as already explained.

To date, I’ve sold about 50-60 things between Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. It’s almost entirely how I fund my redesigns. Make sure to keep the money from your sales separate from your “normal” money so you can keep track of how much you have to buy new things with so you never spend any extra or unexpected money out of pocket.

I do feel obligated to remind you all to always be safe when selling. I used to give buyers the address of a condo building a couple down from mine near the road so nobody knew my exact address. People always appreciated this because they didn’t have to expose themselves to a stranger’s home and it made it easier for them to load things into their cars. Be wary of selling after dark and make sure someone is aware that you’re meeting up so they can expect you back within a certain timeframe to ensure your safety.

3. Be resourceful

I currently have a scheme going on eBay that involves me selling a “coupon” to a well-known retailer that does not typically deliver coupons or discounts to their store other than through their referral program. People are just buying my referral, which gives them a certain percentage off of their first order at this retailer. I don’t pretend to be anything I’m not and I think people are simply unaware of the referral program and are looking to get whatever deal they can find. My “coupon” is listed for $0.99 on eBay (the lowest you can list an item) but I’d give them away for free if I could! Each time someone buys something with my referral, I get $20 to the retailer. I’ve made $350 since September doing this and it’s allowed me to buy small knick knacks and decor pieces that I wouldn’t have otherwise spent my money on.

4. Plan ahead (or expect to be patient)

You have two options when it comes to redecorating an entire space on a limited budget. You can either plan ahead, prepare your purchases and accumulate slowly or wait until it is time to redecorate and have to purchase everything all at once while still being held down with the old items you aren’t into anymore. Additionally, sometimes good deals take time. For example, Wayfair’s pricing always fluctuates so when I find a piece that I want to buy, I bookmark it and watch it for a few weeks.

A great example of this strat is my media console in my living room— I originally bookmarked it at one price and a few weeks later it dropped significantly, then rose again to the original price and then rose to an even higher price. I freaked out a bit and found that on AllModern (another Wayfair company), the console was selling for the original price so I took the plunge. I was okay with this decision because I felt like I had educated myself on the selling value of the piece.

After purchasing, don’t forget to follow up because companies like Wayfair have adjustment periods where they will honor any price drops within a certain timeframe of delivery. The price of my console dipped again within a week of me receiving it and I was able to get a price adjustment after I had already purchased and assembled it.

Another example of planning ahead paying off was my other media console that I have in our bedroom. I wanted the IKEA Stockholm buffet for our new place and after weeks of thinking about it, I ALMOST went to go buy it full-priced at IKEA against all of my better judgment. Not sure why I didn’t go when I had planned to but I’m so glad I didn’t because the following day I got a Craigslist alert in my email that someone IN MY TOWN was selling the exact piece. Me and Charlie rounded up and we rolled out the next day to go get it. We nabbed it for almost half off AND didn’t even have to assemble it. Patience is valuable!

5. Always try to upgrade (never downgrade)

If your goal is to work your way up to pieces in your home that you plan to keep around for awhile, then you should always keep in mind: upgrade always, downgrade never. I implement this by buying pieces that I know are of better quality than the item I sold them for and if I have to, putting a tiny bit of money into the piece out of pocket so the investment slowly grows over time.

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My hope down the road is to start a successful design business and I know a few of you have reached out asking for assistance designing and decorating your spaces. I would LOVE to help you determine your style and hand pick pieces for your home. Please email me at hello@baileybeeblog.com if you’re interested.

I finally feel like I have gotten myself settled in and am feeling more and more productive by the day down here in Raleigh. I recently tested out a couple of recipes in an attempt to recreate my FAVORITE black bean soup from Panera. I typically don’t eat at Panera except during the time of year when they sell this soup. Sometimes I’ll get it 2-3 times a week. It’s an addiction!

This is not a perfect match for the soup but I do very much enjoy it as it’s a bit of a cross between said soup and hearty chili. It’s no coincidence that I’m posting this the Friday before Superbowl Sunday! It’ll be a crowd favorite during this Polar Vortex-y weekend.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium carrots

1 medium onion

4 cloves garlic

2 stalks celery

1 small red bell pepper

45 oz. (three standard cans) undrained black beans

15 oz. (one standard can) undrained diced tomatoes

8 oz. can tomato sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Can I complain? Why does cilantro come in such giant bunches? Nobody ever needs that much.

Instructions

Heat oil in large pot

Dice carrots, onion, celery and bell pepper and mince garlic

Add to pot and saute for 10 minutes until carrots are slightly tender

While waiting, slightly pulse one and a half cans of black beans in blender

Add the remaining ingredients (black beans, both tomatoes, broth and spices) and simmer for 10-15 more minutes

In case you were TOTALLY counting…….. (not)….. we are *only* 627 days until our wedding!!!!!

Hahahahahaha yes, really.

I am so grateful for our long engagement because it has allowed us to take our time choosing vendors for the big day and not rush any major purchases and/or decisions. Another main perk? Pretty much every vendor is still available! We get freeeeee ranged pick of the lot.

So far in the wedding planning process we have chosen our date (October 11th, 2020) and our venue. I’d like to keep the venue a secret for a while but I’ll let you know that it IS in Raleigh. We’re embracing our new home and see ourselves here for years to come so it only seems natural to share this new place with all of our friends and family. It’s a destination wedding for… pretty much everybody other than us. Oops.

In addition to the date and venue, we also just signed our contract on our photographer. I have been thinking about the photographer for my wedding longer than I have thought about any other major details like the cake or even my dress! I am a photographer at heart and I follow quite a few professionals that I’ve loved since I first picked up a camera. I wanted to bring you all through my inspiration of styles for photographers that I love.

Firstly, I had to start off with Jordan Voth. He’s located in the Pacific Northwest but in 2011 he did a road trip around the country and I was going to have him do my senior portraits for high school. Unfortunately, I was on a family vacation when he came through my area but I always told myself I’d think of him first when I got engaged. I did not end up booking him for the wedding but not for any reason other than distance. All of the photographers I am showcasing here today are ones I’ve followed for years but are not local to Raleigh. The photographer we did end up booking is INCREDIBLE and is also a local! A total win-win.

Here is some of Jordan’s work:

Next is another photographer that I discovered around the same time as Jordan. His name is Taylor McCutchan and he is insaaaanely talented. In addition to his near-perfect photos and impeccable edits, he does some really cool double exposures that you’ll see an example of below:

A more recent discovery of mine is Duke Moose. He’s based in Utah and, well, his location speaks for itself. He captures people in Utah’s unbelievable scenery so majestically. It’s really unfair that all of America doesn’t look like it.

Here are a couple of my favorites by him:

Last but certainly not least for my inspirational photogs is the first-ever wedding photographer that I followed. I remember being a freshman in high school, sitting in the corner of the computer room of my school’s photo lab. I had just discovered Shannon Nicole Smith (now: Vine and Light Photography) and fell in love with her work. It was the first time I’d seen candid wedding photography where people look happy, lively and NORMAL. I’ve kept tabs on her in the years since and felt it was a necessity to include her in this post.

Now for the real deal! I wasn’t sure I was gonna share my vendors as we booked ’em but honestly….. how could I hold back on this one? We booked Three Region Photography and let me tell ya– I am so freaking happy I decided to look local because if I hadn’t, one of the photographers listed above would have been booked and I would have missed the magic that is Jessica’s work.

I try very hard to separate photographic skill and “the eye” from post-processing work. I haven’t always been this way and really only recently learned that anyone can slap a Lightroom preset on a photo, call it a day and look impressive. I now appreciate someone who can capture a perfectly crisp image in a scenario that is ever-moving and quickly changing. Jessica recently posted something on her Instagram that I thought was so incredible, as it was very different from my personal experience as a (hobby) photographer and think it exudes the confidence in her ability: she said instead of shooting on burst, she sits and waits for the moments that need to be captured. I believe she likened it to being a Nat Geo photographer waiting for a specific action of an animal in the wild and I think that speaks to her incredible work tremendously.

Now, let me back up and say that editing IS important. That is what initially caught my eye with Three Region. There’s a slight moodiness that never leans too dramatic and her work just feels grounded. It’s not bubbly but it still exemplifies joy. It’s not stiff but you will still get all of your necessary, more posed shots. Simply put: it feels real. She is everything that I wish I could be as a photographer and I am SO excited to have her photograph our big day.

That’s all for today’s Wedding Wednesday! I believe the next major detail that’s up for choosing is…… THE DRESS!!!!!! See you all then 🙂

I’m here to write a post that I wish had been on the Internet this time, last year. 2018 was surely the year of the houseplant and I fell deeply victim to the trend. The one thing I kept having trouble with? Finding cute pots WITH drainage holes. Don’t let anybody fool you– no amount of rocks on the bottom of a pot will create as good of drainage as an actual drainage hole. If you’re serious about your plants, you won’t mess around with rocks. What you will do is..

buy a diamond drill bit.

Yep. You’re gonna need a drill if you want to have botanical fun this year! This revelation pushed me to buy a drill that I already was in dire need for because of the amount of furniture I assemble and DIY projects I take on. If you don’t have a drill, you’ll eventually need one as time goes on so just consider this an investment into adulthood.

As I was trying to navigate the world of drainage, I kept seeing blips of advice from random plant websites and blogs talking about the need for a masonry drill bit. These bits are blunt and dull and truly take AGES to get through well-constructed pots, if ever. There is a much higher risk of cracking your planter using one of these as well given the amount of pressure necessary to get a hole going.

Diamond bits are like slicing cheese with a razor compared to masonry bits.

Let’s go step-by-step…

Screenshots are from a previous Instagram story so don’t mind my green, semi-unappealing text

1. Attach the bit to your drill. You can get a variety of different sized bits but I went with a smaller one (1/4″) because of cost. It would be better for you to buy a bigger one for this purpose because what I usually ended having to do was drill multiple holes in pots to ensure proper drainage– you’ll see below. If you were curious, this is the drill that I own. This is the drill bit.

2. Prepare your pot I usually drilled my holes within my kitchen sink so I could continually have cool water running on my workspace. Just like cutting tile, you need to keep the area you are drilling into constantly cool to protect your pot from cracking. The friction of this drill bit on the pottery makes the spot very, very, VERY hot without running water atop it.

This planter I was working on is the Wood Base Planter from West Elm. West Elm looooOoves to put drainage “wells” in the bottom of their pots in lieu of drainage holes but again, don’t fall for it. That is not going to work. In 2019 I’ve already seen stores such as Target really embracing the plant pot as a trend and the majority of theirs are cheaper than the stores/outlets that used to sell pots before they were trendy AND typically have drainage holes already. Thank goodness.

3. Begin drilling You must begin drilling at a 90° angle which, given the nature of this project, is sometimes difficult. Try your best. What you’re needing to do is get the rough side of the drill bit to get past a glazed exterior and begin to actually work itself into the pot. Once you have a decent enough depth in, you can turn the drill upwards and begin drilling normally. You are creating a ring shape that will eventually make its way through the pot and out the bottom, creating a perfect hole. You can only drill normally as deep as your initial 90° angle depth. Once you’ve hit your max, angle the drill again and keep digging down. Some pots/planters are super thick and will take some time to get through. Some are thinner or softer (like terracotta) and won’t take much time at all. PLEASE be gentle! Thinner or softer materials can crack if you apply too much pressure. Just keep at it and take your time while letting the drill do the hard work for you.

4. All done! You may want to add a few more if you’re working on a larger pot like I was. You do this the same way you did the initial hole– just be aware that the base is slightly compromised with a hole in it now and could become more fragile during subsequent hole drills.

Like I mentioned previously, I sometimes add extra holes to assist in drainage so there isn’t a ton of water sitting in the bottom of my pot waiting in queue to drain. I only want my plant getting the absolute exact amount of water that it needs.

That is pretty much it! I hope this helps some people because I know for sure it would have helped me. Just remember– diamond bit > masonry bit. No matter what people say!

If you have any questions at all, leave me a comment below. Or if you just want to share your plant parent success stories I am ALL ears! I love seeing people’s indoor (or outdoor, really) jungles.

If you want to shop this post, I’ve listed any items I mentioned today below (for pot and ones similar to it) or within this post as links (for drill, drill bit):

Today I wanted to take you all step-by-step on my current eyebrow routine. One of my eyebrows is much ehm, *needier* than the other.. read: it’s thin and sparse in the most important area– the arch.

I’ve been team brow powder since the first day I ever filled mine in. I prefer powder soooo much to anything else and every time I try something different, I always come right back. I used to religiously use Urban Decay’s ‘Secret Service’ eyeshadow but I’ve also now added Anastasia Beverly Hill’s brow powder duo in ‘Medium Brown’ to my arsenal.

Although I love powder, I have had issues filling in my needy eyebrow with only powder and having it last and also look crisp. Over the years I have started using alternative products JUST where they are needed in order to create a more sculpted, balanced brow. This post will show you just how I do that!

Firstly, here is my wacky left eyebrow. It is missing the all-important arch and is also fairly short in the tail.

The first step in my process is to define the gapped area with either a brow pen or pomade. In the above photo, I used this brow pen in ‘Dark’ by Stila. I switch between that pen and Anastasia’s Dipbrow pomade in ‘Soft Brown’ depending on my mood.

The most important thing to do after applying your intense defining line is to brush the product out with a clean spoolie. Be aware of what direction you are brushing so the product doesn’t migrate beyond where you are intending it to be. If it gets a bit fuzzy, use a makeup wipe (if you do your brows first) or some foundation or concealer (if you do your brows last) to clean things up.

After I have defined the necessary spot, I fill in the rest of my eyebrow with my usual powders. With the brow powder duo, I use the lighter shade towards the front of the brow and the darker color on the tail end.

Finally, set with a brow gel. Sometimes I use a tinted one, sometimes a clear (like in the above photo) and sometimes I even use a thickening pomade. None of this makes a huge difference in the gappiness of the eyebrow since you already solved the problem with either the brow pen or pomade.

I hope this helps some of you out in the brow department! I know I’m always disappointed when I think I can simply run a thickener through my brows to create symmetry and end up lacking but I just make sure that any time I do my makeup, I also do this eyebrow routine so I’m looking put! together!